SUVA
(Pacnews): Fiji's interim government has rejected a High
Court judge's ruling that it is an illegal administration
and that the country's 1997 constitution has not been
abrogated, Pacnews reports.

The government's hardened
stance was relayed to the Fiji Military Forces whose
director of legal services, Lieutenant Colonel Etueni Caucau
told Pacnews that an application for a stay order against
Judge Anthony Gates ruling would be filed shortly.

He said
the appeal against the ruling would be heard most probably
at the next sitting of the Fiji Court of Appeal scheduled
for January-February next year. Colonel Caucau said the
status quo would remain pending the appeal.

The senior
military lawyer said the army was also on alert to prevent
those who would want to take advantage of the
situation.

"We are calling on the people of Fiji to remain
calm and to respect the rule of law," the Colonel told
Pacnews this afternoon.

In a landmark decision handed down
today (November 15), Justice Gates said the 1997
Constitution -- which the military said was abrogated when
it declared martial law following the May 19 coup - was
still intact and that the interim government was wrongfully
established.

Because of this, he said Ratu Sir Kamisese
Mara was still the legal President of Fiji and ordered him
to urgently convene a special sitting of Parliament. Judge
Gates said the military's appointment of an interim
government was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Although the
interim government has refused to accept the High Court's
decision, among the first to welcome it was the former
administration of ousted Prime Minister Mahendra
Chaudhry.

"It is now incumbent on the authorities of our
nation - the interim administration, the commander of the
Fiji Military Forces, and the interim President to take the
necessary action and accept the judgement," Chaudhry's
co-deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tupeni Baba told
Pacnews.

"The whole world is now looking to see whether
Fiji will uphold what is just and right. This ruling will
test our sense of what is right and what is wrong. It will
test out ability to put into action what we have been
telling the international community we will do."

Dr Baba
felt the time was opportune for the formation of a
government of national unity - something the ousted
government had been advocating all along.

"It is the best
way forward. This is the only way forward that will take us
through these difficult times. This is the time to work
together for the sake of our country."

While reactions
from Dr Baba and his team had been forthcoming, the standard
line among senior members of the legal fraternity in Fiji
was that they needed time to read the complete judgement of
Justice Gates.

"But from the sound of it, the crux of the
ruling will be in its implementation," a lawyer in private
practice in Suva said.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs
Minister Phil Goff has welcomed the decision saying the
country's 1997 constitution remains valid and that the
properly elected Parliament be recalled.

"Justice Gates
decision that the abrogation of the constitution after the
May 19 coup was invalid allows Fiji the opportunity to move
forward."

"Fiji's instability and lack of legitimate
government following the coup has caused huge damage to Fiji
socially and economically," Goff said.

"To many lives have
been lost, Fiji's economy is set to retract by an estimated
15 percent and its international image severely
undermined.

"Justice Gates decision provides the
opportunity now to make progress, if key players including
the interim government and the military are prepared to take
it up.

"For security and stability to be restored, there
must be the acceptance of sorting out difficulties by
democratic process, not the use of violence.

"Possibly the
best way forward would be for both the indigenous community
and indo Fijian and all political parties to support the
establishment of a Government of National Unity and
reconciliation."

Goff said there needs to be goodwill and
good faith on all sides. The alternative is a continuing
threat of feuding between different factions of the
Indigenous political elite, which has already caused so much
damage.

"The needs of both communities and the more than a
third of the country's population which is living below the
poverty line, is to turn the country's focus on how to
rebuild the economy and political institutions, rather than
a power struggle between elites motivated by greed and self
- interest.

"The whole of the international community
would welcome such an approach. Fiji's closest neighbours
and friends, in particular New Zealand and Australia, would
be ready to assist in every way possible in that process,"
Goff said.

+++niuswire

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